God Is Interested

            Trees were being trimmed on the streets of a certain city.  Coming to one tree a worker noticed a bird’s nest with several newly hatched birds. Not having the heart to disturb the lib, the workman obtained permission from the foreman to trim it off at a later time.  He returned after a few weeks to trim the tree and found the nest deserted.  Looking more closely he found at the bottom of the nest a small Sunday School text card bearing the words, “He careth for you.”

            “God cares.” Yes, He cares for the sparrow but He cares more for you, because you are of more value than many sparrows.  You mean something to God that a sparrow can never mean.

            The words may be translated, “God is interested in you.”  Though He is the Creator of a million words, He is a personal Friend of yours.  And He is interested in everything you are interested in—in everything that affects His plan for your life.

            But your interest too often tend to become your anxieties.  And God does not want you to live anxiously.  He who lives anxiously reveals two things: (1) he sets too much value on temporal things, and (2) he is lacking in the faith that “all these things shall be added unto you.”

            Can we reverently put it this way?  Let God take over the “worries” of your life.  He wants to.  Deliberately refuse to live in anxious concern—“throw every anxiety upon Him and leave it there!”  The original indicates that this commitment to God in a given matter should be a once-for-all act.  Then live on without the care!

--George E. Failing

Anyone Can Grumble

     Fault-Finding is not difficult.  Isaac McCurry illustrates this.  A dog hitched to a lawn mower, stopped pulling to bark at a passer-by.  The boy who was guiding the mower said, "Don't mind the dog; he is just barking for an excuse to rest.  It is easier to bark than to pull this machine."

     It is easier to be critical than correct.  Easier to bark than work.  Easier to burn a house than to build one.  Easier to hinder than help.  Easier to destroy reputation than construct character.

     Fault-Finder is as dangerous as it is easy.  Anybody can grumble, criticize, or censure, like the Pharisees, but it takes a great soul to go on working faithfully and lovingly, and rise superior to it all, as Jesus did.

--1959

Soul Winning After Death?

            In 1883 Willard J. Houghton, founder of Houghton College, wrote: “I had rather stay on earth a little longer if it is the Master’s will, since there will be no chance to save souls in heaven.”

            Mr. Houghton was right-in a sense.  After death he could no longer visit Sunday schools and preach messages to children.  In heaven he could establish no Christian colleges or solicit funds for their support.

            But-in another sense-Mr. Houghton was wrong.  Houghton College is more vigorous than ever and is an evangelistic as well as an academic institution.  What Mr. Houghton did “then” is still being projected into the “now.”  The Christian momentum of his life and service could not be arrested by death.  His “works do follow” him.

            Kind deeds never die.  The “cup of cold water” refreshes long after the hand has ceased to hold it.  The card written, the courtesy shown in Jesus’ name, have a fragrance and usefulness after the doer has forgotten them.

            The Christian witness never dies.  Words, spoken or written, are deathless.  Words are vehicles of transfer, transferring thoughts, ideas, feelings.  Christ was “the Word,” and as such expressed God.  Up to the measure of God’s grace, we, too, my transfer God’s thoughts and feelings toward men.

            Christian investments are imperishable.  Money has power.  Jesus knew and taught that.  For that very reason Christian giving is important-not giving that brings glory to the giver, but that which brings glory to God.

            Some investments yield small dividends in eternity.  They accomplish very little soul winning after death.  But money and talent given to spiritual enterprises at home or abroad-enterprises that both reach the lost and train Christians into battlefield saints-will go on winning souls after the tongue “lies silent in the grave.”

            Amazing and blessed truth!  I believe that some of the redeemed will be surprised at the rewards given them for their posthumous soul winning.  But no one will win souls after death who has not striven to win them in life.

--George E. Failing

Strive To Enter

            Relax is a modern word that is just about worked to death.  It is heard on every hand and is offered as a sure cure for all our ills.

            If you relax you will not have stomach ulcers.  You will get along with your neighbors better.  Your home life will be more congenial and happy.

            A relaxed condition may be much better in building personal and social relationships, but when it comes into the realm of the moral and spiritual there must be no relaxing.

            Christ said, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”  When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door….” (Luke 13:24)

            We are to run with endurance said Paul.  We are to keep our bodies under.  We are to have our loins girded and our lamps burning.

            In matters moral and spiritual there must be no relaxing, the soul must ever be on guard against the wiles of the devil, against the allurements of the flesh, and the enticements of the wicked one.

            Let it be remembered that what makes an obstacle is the state of the heart of the man himself.  External conditions which fruit in vicious acts are not half so deadly as an inner slackness that blurs all lines of distinction between right and wrong and builds up within the soul the desire for self-indulgence.

            Christianity is a fight, and the Christian is in for it all that is in it.  It is a warfare from which there is no discharge and in which there is no “cease fire.”

            There will be much to endure-wars and rumors of wars, fighting’s within and without, fears and tumults and hatred and despair.  But nothing will befall me that I cannot endure with Christ.  And if I endure to the end I shall be saved.

            Strive, to be sure, but the reward is worth the striving.  And it does not all come at the end of life’s road, for here and now, in the present, there are rewards worthy of our best strivings and which will bring joy and gladness to the heart of the believer.

--George E. Failing

"Not So, Lord"

     There was a young lady who went to her pastor with a spiritual problem.  A time was arranged, and she presented herself.  At his request she unburdened her heart.  The conversation ran something like this:

     Well, Margaret, what is your difficulty?  Pastor, I really should like to surrender my life to the Lord Jesus Christ."  Well Margaret, why don't you?"  "There are just two things that stand in my way, Pastor."  "And what are they?"

     "Now you know that I am an accomplished pianist, and have had the privilege of playing on the concert stage.  I am just afraid that if I surrender to the Lord, He will ask my to give this up."

     "Is that all?"

     "No, there is one thing more.  If I yield my life to the Lord, I'm afraid that He will tell me I am needed in India as a foreign missionary; and I do not want to go."

     "Is that all, Margaret?"  "That's all."

     The pastor then asked her to turn to Acts 10:14.  Out of the verse he selected just three words: "Not so, Lord."  He explained that this was a contradiction in terms.  If Christ was Peter's Lord, the Peter had no right to say, "Not so"; and if Peter had the right to say, "Not so," then Christ was not his Lord.  The girl saw this.  The pastor then wrote the three words on a piece of paper.  Margaret had to make her choice.  Either "Not so" must be crossed out, or "Lord" must be crossed out.

     The pastor left the room.  In a few minutes he slipped back.  Margaret's head was on her arm, and she was sobbing softly.  The pastor glanced of her shoulder.  the piece of paper read, "Lord."

     Would that we were all Christians with one word vocabularies; and that one word was "Lord"!

     You love Him.  Is He Lord? I beseech you, by the love of Christ, to present yourselves in utter abandonment to His will and purpose.

Do What You Can Do

            It was high praise which Jesus gave to the woman who broke a jar of precious perfume to anoint Him.  He said, “She hath done what she could.”  It may not seem at first glance a great thing to praise.  It may seem an ordinary thing to do what one can.  But that is very often the very thing people will not do.  They think of what they would do if things were different, if they had a million dollars, or a place of great power.  But such reveries count for nothing.  What does count is what you can do, not the million dollars we do not have, but the ten dollars we do have, the influence we can exert with what we have.

            May we bring to thy service, O God, the offering of continued faithfulness, doing what we can. In Jesus’ name, Amen

--Unknown

Our Greatest Enemy -- SIN (Part 2)

AGGRAVATED SIN

            Our sins are often made more offensive in the sight of God because of the way we use many of His blessings.  Such sins have sometimes been described as “God’s blessings to us gone astray in our use of them,” rather in our misuse of them.  Think of it!  Accepting God’s blessings and making them an occasion of sin against Him!  Many examples of might be cited.  Our health authorities tell us they are disturbed because so many people are very much overweight—a common fault—and detrimental to their health.  Call it intemperate eating, gluttony, or what not, it is sinful to endanger our health by eating beyond our needs—not to mention the fault of consuming food that should go to the needy ones who are undernourished!  God gives us food to sustain our bodies and we use it to excess and impair our health!  Here’s another example of blessings misused.  As a mode of transportation, the invention of the motor vehicle has been a boon to man, and almost revolutionize our way of living.  It has been a blessing to the work of the Church.  A minister said that by the use of an automobile, he was enabled once to hold four services on his charge on an Easter Sunday.  But because of recklessness, carelessness, or some fault due to mishandling of the vehicle, we are killing yearly on our streets and highways throughout the country form 35,000 to 40,000 persons.  God gave us the material that goes into the making of an automobile and the intellect to invent its manufacture—but see how we use His gifts!  Many more examples might be given, showing how we turn God’s gifts to sinful use.

IS IT SINFUL?

            Many people ask that question—especially people who want a religion that governs by rule—and there are two many of that kind!  Such persons may never become mature Christians.  They take a narrow view of what it means to be a Christian.  Such persons would like to have a Bible as big as a suitcase, indexed with every conceivable act of conduct, and be able to run to it and read a “yes” or “no” response to such questions as, “it is wrong to dance, or to play cards?”

            Susanna Wesley, mother of John and Charles Wesley, once wrote to John when he was in college: “Would you judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of a pleasure, take this rule:  Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of your body over your mind, that thing, to you is sin.”

            After two centuries, that is still good advice—for young and old.

SOME REASSURING THOUGHTS

            When we think of God’s attitude toward sin, let us ever keep in mind that while God hates sin, He loves the sinner.  “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezek 33:11)

            Here is a source of comfort that we should not miss.  Because God’s attitude toward sin is one of antagonism—forever against evil in every form, and forever working to uphold the right and the pure and the good—evil can never eventually prevail, but will be overthrown by God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.  Let us be sure that we are always on God’s side, working with Him and all the forces of righteousness throughout the earth.  All the forces of evil combined cannot eventually prevail against God.  Notwithstanding the weaknesses of His followers—their indifference, opposition, and infidelity—Christ firmly believed that His cause would win the world from evil.  The New Testament has been called the most optimistic Book on earth, and the last Book of the Bible breathes words of assurance.  The Kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever” (Rev 11:15).

--H. H. Smith, Sr. 1959

Our Greatest Enemy -- SIN (Part 1)

            We can have no greater enemy than that which separates us from God.  The Prophet Isaiah, speaking to the people of his day, said:  “Behold for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.  Wherefore, when I came, was there no man?  When I called, was there none to answer?” (Isa. 50: 1, 2)

WHAT IS SIN?

            The First Epistle of John, chapter3, verse 4, reads: “Sin is the transgression of the law.”  This is a common definition of sin.  Weymouth translates the verse, “Everyone who commits sin also commits lawlessness: for sin is lawlessness.”  We have a word for lawlessness—anarchy.  The dictionary defines it as the “absence or lack of government, hence a lawless condition of society – confusion in general – the theory of absolute, individual liberty.”  The essence of sin is selfishness—man having his way in defiance of God’s will.  Because He doesn’t want a “lawless” world, God has instituted government, with laws and penalties—and violation of these laws is called sin.

            But in God’s Kingdom there may be sin when there is no outward violation of His law.  Jesus said:”Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:  But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matt 5:27, 28).  Be careful how you hate any one; hate is the essence of murder, and in the sight of God, one may be a murderer who has not actually taken life.  The seat of sin is in the heart, the inner man.  Christ laid emphasis upon this when He said:  “For out of the heart proceed evil thought, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts false witness, blasphemies …” (Matt 5:19).  A man is corrupt or pure in proportion as his inner life is corrupt or pure.  “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov 4:23) is a scriptural admonition that one should always heed.

            Lack of love is sin.  “He that loveth not knoweth God: for God is love” (I John 4:8).  “But if anyone has this world’s goods and sees that his brother is in need, and yet closes his heart against him—how can love for God continue in him?” (I John 3:17).

EVIL EFFECTS OF SIN

            “The way of transgressors is hard” (Prov 13:15).  We reap what we sow.  “Be not deceived; God is not mocked:  for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal 6:7, 8).

            “Let no one who is tried by temptation say, ‘May temptation comes from God’; God is incapable of being tempted by evil and he tempts no one.  Everyone is tempted as he is beguiled and allured by his own desire; then Desire conceives and breeds Sin, while Sin matures and give birth to Death” (James 1:13-15 Moffatt).

GOD’s ATTITUDE TOWARD SIN

            St. Paul states God’s attitude toward sin in these words: “For wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:8).  Sin is abhorrent to God, “because the carnal mind is enmity against God:  for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom 8:7).  It is against all that God stands for and for all that God is against.  The more spiritually-minded one is, the more he abhors sin.  Henry Drummond was a deeply spiritual Christian.  Dwight L. Moody, in his evangelistic services abroad, called on him to help in the “inquiry room.”  Drummond met many tough characters in this work, and later wrote of them: “Such tales of woe I’ve heard in Moody’s inquiry room that I have felt that I must go out and change my very clothes after the contact!  Oh, I’m sick with the sins of these men!  How can God bear it?”

            If sin can appear so offensive to man, how must it appear to God?


--H. H. Smith, Sr. 1959

Stop Us If You've...

            One of Billy Graham’s favorite illustrations was related by his staffer, Charles Riggs, to volunteer counselors for the Little Rock crusade.

            While driving through a small Southern town sometime ago, Billy was stopped by a traffic cop.

            “You were driving 40 in a 30-mile zone,” charged the policeman.

            “Sorry,” replied Graham, “I am guilty.  How much is the fine?”

            “It’ll be $10,” said the officer, “but you’ll have to appear in court.”

            The policeman escorted the “culprit” down town to a barber shop, where the judge, a justice of the peace, was plying his trade of barbering.  The judge motioned for Graham to be seated and proceeded to finish a haircut for the client who happened to be in the barber chair at the time.

            Then the barber laid aside his clippers, stepped over to a table and, assuming the full dignity of his office as JP, called the court to order.

            The policeman gave his testimony and the judge asked the defendant, “Guilty or not guilty?”

            “Guilty,” replied Graham.

            “That’ll be $10,” replied the judge, “a dollar a mile for every mile you’re making above the limit.”

            Graham pulled his billfold out of his pocket and was about to pay the fine when the judge saw the name “Billy Graham” on the ticket.  “Billy Graham?” he mused.  “Don’t I know you?”

            “I certainly hope not!” responded Billy.

            Then it dawned on the JP.  “Are you the evangelist Billy Graham?” he asked.  And on having this confirmed, he turned out to be a Graham fan who had been a regular listener to the Graham broadcasts for years.

            As the judge warmed up, Graham slipped his billfold back into his pocket and relaxed.

            But soon the demeanor of the judge was stern again.  “you have violated the law,” he said, “and the penalty must be paid.”

            Sorrowfully Billy brought out his money again.  But the judge motioned for him to put his money back into his pocket.  “The fine must be paid,” he said, “but I am going to pay it for you.”  And he took $10 out of his own pocket and attached it to the ticket.  Then he took Billy out and bought him a steak dinner.

            “That,” says Billy, “is how our heavenly Father deals with a penitent sinner!”

The Secret Of Charm

            “The secret of charm,” wrote the famous psychologist of Harvard, William James, “is emotional directness.  It consists in direct emotional communication with others…with total honesty, with sincerity, with deep concern, and without guile.”

            This quality is admittedly rather rare today.  The tensions of modern life and an artificial civilization tend to diminish rather than promote such qualities.  An artificial charm of man-made attractiveness is substituted too often.  But there is no charm that can hold so long or so fast as that of a sincere and radiant personality, aglow with naturalness and poise.

            One can and should refuse to allow the hurry and bustle of modern life to hinder him from taking time to really live.  What, after all, is life for if it is not to be lived for one’s friends and those who need him.  Millions are so busy making a living that they have utterly failed to make a life of real worth.  They make virtually no contribution to the true values of life such as character development in the young about them, or in the giving of time to spiritual and social interests for the betterment of their friends and neighbors.

            Life has become entirely too much a race between the factory, office, shop, or store.  Home is a sort of boarding house where the family meets each other hurriedly in brief successions at the table.  Many families are scarcely ever together for a whole day at once.  How can we develop real fellowship and genuine personal interests in each other in such “hit-and-miss” patterns of living?

            Take time out to listen to others talk; be sympathetically sincere in your interest in another’s problem; allow the beauties of life to look in at the windows of your soul.  Keep gentle in spirit.  Be radiant in hopefulness and impart each day some cheerfulness to others.  Take time out, man, and live a little before you go to your Maker with a handful of chaff which you have caught in your haste, while missing the wheat!

--William S. Deal

“… See If There Be” Ps 139:24

            “See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  Ps 139:24

            This prayer reveals a deeper piety than I had at first supposed.

            If David’s words are honest—and I believe they are—David confesses that he is at the moment unaware of anything that grieves the Lord.  That is a high, though a normal, standard of living for the believer.  At the same time, David is no surface saint and therefore is aware that there may be things in his life that do grieve God, things as yet unknown to him.

            David knows that such errors of life, though still undiscovered, hinder the free moving of the Spirit.  Such undiscovered hindrances will hinder both the development of piety and the outreach of service.  Heartily desirous that God be fully glorified in his heart and life, David begs God to inform him of those secret faults that bother others and that Satan employs to advantage.

            This prayer reveals David’s open spirit.   For in the petition David makes the promise to God that if God will renounce them and allow God to lead him in the way everlasting.  What a humble and teachable spirit!

            Many of us become “wise” and “confirmed” saints too soon.  We believe we know God’s estimate of us, that He has revealed to us all we need to know, that no major adjustments to His will or purpose are ahead.  Hence, we do not take the place of children asking for advice, meekly seeking ever to be more like God.  Thus we shut out our souls from further development.  Our convictions of conduct and patterns of piety reflect what we believed to be God’s will ten or twenty years ago.  We have not dared to ask God to review our lives lately, to revise and recast them any way He wishes.  We are living and acting on “has been” convictions.

            Worse still, some of us would not even need to ask God what thing in our lives grieved Him.  A little refection would overwhelm us with memories of carelessness, sharp speech, ugly temper, worldly desires and conformities, prayerlessness, lack of love and consideration toward our Christian brethren, and a cold uninterested heart so far as the unsaved are concerned.  We are aware of these things.  Dare we face them?  Dare we name them?  Dare we confess them?

            Are we really interested in revival?  Then let us adjust before God and before others, those things that we know need adjustment.  Then we can ask God to reveal to us the unknown blunders and shortcomings that we may renounce them also and yoke up more closely with the God of Calvary and of Pentecost.

--George E. Failing